From: James HK <jam...@gm...> - 2014-10-22 19:17:04
|
Hi, > First, don't reinvent the wheel. A lot of work has been done with regards > to Vector from both a usability and technical aspect. It is the de facto > standard interface to MediaWiki. SMW is a sub-set of MediaWiki (one does SMW will not dismiss these efforts but MediaWiki and its sponsor (the WMF) have a particular use case in mind (supporting the Wikipedia eco-system) which I'm sure is a unique objective and therefore bearing a different focus then most of the SMW users will encounter. > Second, WMF is also pushing toward more unified design between Vector, > MobileFrontend, and VisualEditor (and more I'm sure - see Flow, Echo, > Winter). While VisualEditor is wrought with controversy within WMF and > related properties, it is admittedly a grand step in a easier to use > interface to MediaWiki. Something that SMW can benefit from as well. I run SMW-core itself is independent from any design specific elements that MW deploys including VE. If one extension in the SMW-eco system requires adaptation to a certain design element then this is an issue of that particular extension and not closely related to SMW-core. As far as I understand VE requires Parsoid [0] which again requires some experienced administrator [1] (whether that remains so in future I don't know). > This applies not only to Vector, but to MobileFronted as well. Grab a > tablet or smartphone and take a look at a wiki using it. It's great and is > only continuing to get better. There is a small army of people behind it. The last time I tried to install MobileFrontend was rather cumbersome together with its infrastructure requirements [2] made it not easier and was rather time consuming to work with. In the end the user decides in what kind of environment s(he) wants to use SMW whether with Vector and MobileFrontend, a different skin, or as a fully customized website. > Moving away from WMF-like design is going to make places where we do co-opt > interfaces seem kludgy and disjointed. We are not moving away but SMW needs to define its own identity within different campaigns that are currently moving forward. Having a website that represents its position in a slightly more modern layout can help to distinguish its mission [3]. > We should, instead, move our interfaces *toward *WMF Design > <https://tools.wmflabs.org/styleguide/>. Grow that usage along side our > own! Design and aesthetic are not easy to come by and I don't think that for the current discussion anyone was thinking about a specific SMW-grid or style guide. The current discussion was about smw.org [4] to use a skin with a well established grid (Bootstrap) in order to be more responsive to its users (the users of smw.org not SMW-core itself). [0] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:VisualEditor#Setting_VisualEditor_up [1] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Parsoid/Setup#Before_you_begin [2] https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:MobileFrontend/Configuring_browser_auto-detection [3] "Semantic MediaWiki (SMW) to turn your wiki into a powerful and flexible knowledge management system." including other objectives such as being easy to use, easy to install, and to have a broad net of supporting extensions that allows different use cases. [4] smw.org = https://semantic-mediawiki.org/ Cheers On 10/23/14, Chris Koerner <no...@gm...> wrote: > I agree with David Mason, while there are advantages to using Chameleon, > there are also disadvantages that should not be dismissed. I would strongly > urge us to reuse existing work and tie ourselves closer to the MediaWiki > 'brand' - not move further from it. > > First, don't reinvent the wheel. A lot of work has been done with regards > to Vector from both a usability and technical aspect. It is the de facto > standard interface to MediaWiki. SMW is a sub-set of MediaWiki (one does > require the other). We should keep this in mind and piggyback on > its familiarity and leverage existing work and focus. > > This applies not only to Vector, but to MobileFronted as well. Grab a > tablet or smartphone and take a look at a wiki using it. It's great and is > only continuing to get better. There is a small army of people behind it. > > Second, WMF is also pushing toward more unified design between Vector, > MobileFrontend, and VisualEditor (and more I'm sure - see Flow, Echo, > Winter). While VisualEditor is wrought with controversy within WMF and > related properties, it is admittedly a grand step in a easier to use > interface to MediaWiki. Something that SMW can benefit from as well. I run > a small scale semantic wiki setup at my employer - editing interfaces make > a big difference in user contribution. > > Moving away from WMF-like design is going to make places where we do co-opt > interfaces seem kludgy and disjointed. > > We should, instead, move our interfaces *toward *WMF Design > <https://tools.wmflabs.org/styleguide/>. Grow that usage along side our > own! > > Standing out and trying to be different is a bold movement. It will not be > easy and we will be on our own. That doesn't seem to be in the spirit of > things. We should be inclusive, borrow from our neighbors, give back where > we can, and reinforce that SMW is a way to make MediaWiki different - some > say better :) - but familiar. > > > Yours, > Chris Koerner > clkoerner.com > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > _______________________________________________ > Semediawiki-user mailing list > Sem...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/semediawiki-user > |